Transfer of genetic information during mitosis is accurately conducted by proper condensation and segregation of chromosomes, for which
condensins play a central role. Both
condensin I and II have common structural maintenance of chromosomes subunits, named hCAP-C and hCAP-E.
Pyothorax-associated
lymphoma (PAL) is a
non-Hodgkin's lymphoma developing in the pleural cavity of patients with long-standing
pyothorax. Mutations of hCAP-C and hCAP-E were investigated in 24
leukemia-
lymphoma cell lines including eight PAL cell lines, and their influences in chromosome morphology were evaluated. Heterozygous point mutations within hCAP-C were found in two PAL cell lines and corresponding
tumor samples (OPL-3 and OPL-7). Deletion of exon 24 within hCAP-E and a point mutation at the donor splice site of intron 24 were detected in OPL-5 and original
tumor samples. OPL-5 showed an extensive reduction in expression of not only hCAP-E but also hCAP-C
proteins. OPL-5 occasionally showed the chromosome bridge in anaphase and telophase, indicating that segregation is not accurate. OPL-7 showed reduced hCAP-C
protein expression, abnormality in chromosome length and width, and abnormal aggregates of hCAP-C
protein. These findings indicated that
condensin gene alteration might play a role in
genome instability, which accelerates the accumulation of other gene alterations in PAL.